Speaking at Microsoft's financial analysts meeting today, CEO Steve Ballmer was refreshingly realistic about the company's struggles in smartphones and tablets. "Mobile devices. We have almost no share."

Right. Now that Ballmer himself admits it, can we please settle the discussion? Windows Phone has been a failure up until now.

Apple users can piss and moan all they want but Apple is NOT a tech brand, its a FASHION brand. What other products do you see people line up to buy? Ohh Air Jordans, the latest flash in the pan hipster brands, things like that.

Appleites can try to spin it all they want but for every person that buys it for the *nix or design there is a thousand that buys it to be SEEN holding an Apple and that all comes down to price. Why do you think Steve Jobs said several times he wouldn't sell to the low end? because he saw what happened when Porsche, another fashionable brand, tried to compete with Mustang...it nearly killed the brand.

So comparing Apple and MSFT is completely pointless, its the difference between Macy's and Walmart. sure macy's may have the branding but there is a pile of money to be made on the low end, but MSFT is burning their bridges because they want to be a hipster brand and it will NEVER EVER happen, most hipsters would go without before they used something as pedestrian as WinPhone.

The point and shoot digital camera market is an example of initially expensive technology becoming extremely cheap within a decade.

By 2018 even entry level mobile phone models will have all the features now found only on the most expensive phones. Very few people will pay a huge premium for wholly intangible benefits. So the post-2018 phone market will offer very few models over $100. This will make phones an extremely low margin business.

Phones are already close to their maximum practical specifications in the areas of speed, screen resolution and camera size. The only real improvements for consumers are going to be in better software and lower prices.